The Poor People's Campaign (PPC), originally co-founded by Martin Luther King, Jr. in 1968 and recently relaunched, is a movement that aims to shift a national narrative. It lifts up the demands of poor people across the country to address systemic racism, poverty, ecological devastation, and the war economy.

Uniting people around the shared values of dignity, justice and equality is essential to our work at Food & Water Watch, and we are proud to stand alongside the Poor People's Campaign in this fight.

That's why when we got a call about helping people in the impoverished county of Martin County, Kentucky, earlier this year, we got busy working to stop an unfair rate hike for water that isn’t safe to drink. In Martin County, 27 percent of households live on less than $15,000 a year. Recently, we joined together with the Martin County Concerned Citizens and the Appalachian Citizens Law Center to call for an investigation of this crisis, and the Kentucky Attorney General answered our call and launched an investigation.

We continue to stand with Martin County residents, and people in lower-income communities across the country who suffer disproportionately from unsafe and unaffordable water service.

We have joined thousands of protesters who have been gathering on the doorsteps of state capitals across the county for the Poor People Campaign’s 40 days of action.

The Big Ask

We’re calling for a newly reframed moral agenda founded on fundamental human rights.

This year, in the wake of climate catastrophes such as Hurricane Irma and the Dakota Access Pipeline construction, the PPC’s call to stop destructive fossil fuel extraction and to justly transition to 100% renewable energy has global urgency.

Protesters gathered in state capitals across the country to focus on the “Rally for Healthcare and Ecological Preservation.”

The rally honed in on the ways environmental issues impact poor communities.

Although climate change's effects have permeated the whole of society, they particularly impact poor people.

Environmental racism, the phenomenon in which communities of color are disproportionately impacted by exposure to pollutants and limited access to natural resources, is pervasive in our country.

Food & Water Watch mobilizes regular people to build political power to move bold & uncompromised solutions to the most pressing food, water, and climate problems of our time. We work to protect people’s health, communities, and democracy from the growing destructive power of the most powerful economic interests.